1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device including a backlight.
2. Background Art
Liquid crystal display panels are configured to control the light transmissivity in a pixel and therefore usually provided with a backlight at the back surface of the liquid crystal display panels.
The backlight generally uses a fluorescent tube (discharge tube) such as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) or external electrode fluorescent lamp (EEFL) as a light source.
The fluorescent tube used in the backlight has such a property that the fluorescent tube is immediately activated after being energized in a light area because initial electrons are produced by the ambient light in the tube but requires a long time to be activated in a dark area (refer to JP-A-2002-15885).
Therefore, a technique has been known in which an LED is arranged as an auxiliary light source in the vicinity of an electrode of the fluorescent tube, and the light from the LED is irradiated onto the fluorescent tube, so that the discharge of the fluorescent tube is smoothly started (refer to JP-A-2002-15885 and JP-A-2006-324131).